In this new feature of our website, we present
every week a new selection of the teachings of Vedanta, taken from a
variety of sources – lectures and writings of Swami Adiswarananda,
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Literature, and other spiritual texts.

HINDUISM:
DEATH AND LIFE BEYOND DEATH

Swami
Adiswarananda

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center

New York

Death, according to Hinduism, is a series of changes through which
an individual passes. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes thus the
passing of a soul:
When the soul departs from the body, the life-breath follows: when
the life-breath departs, all the organs follow. Then the soul becomes
endowed with particularized consciousness and goes to the body which is
related to that consciousness. It is followed by its knowledge, works, and
past experience. Just as a leech supported on a straw goes to the end of
it, takes hold of another support, and contracts itself, so does the self
throw this body away and make it unconscious, take hold of another
support, and contract itself. Just as a goldsmith takes a small quantity
of gold and fashions another - a newer and better - form, so does the soul
throw this body away, or make it unconscious, and make another - a new and
better - form suited to the Manes, or the celestial minstrels, or the
gods, or Virat, or Hiranyagarbha, or other beings. . As it does and acts,
so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes
evil - it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil
acts.

Hinduism speaks of the four courses that men follow after death.
The first, called devayana, way of the gods, is followed by spiritually
advanced souls who lead an extremely pure life, devoting themselves to
wholehearted meditation on Brahman, but who have not succeeded in
attaining complete Self-knowledge before death. They repair to Brahmaloka,
the highest heaven, and from there in due course attain liberation. The
description of this path in the Chhandogya Upanishad is as follows:

Now, such a one-whether his after-death rites are performed or
not-goes to light, from light to day, from day to the bright half of the
month, from the bright half of the month to the six months during which
the sun rises northward, from the months to the year, from the year to the
sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to the lightning. There he
meets a person who is not a human being. This person carries the soul to
Brahman. This is the divine path, the path of Brahman. Those proceeding by
this path do not return to the whirl of humanity.

The second course, known as pitriyana, way of the fathers, is
followed by ritualists and philanthropists who have cherished a desire for
the results of their charity, austerity, vows, and worship. Following this
path, they repair to Chandraloka, the lunar sphere, and after enjoying
immense happiness there as a reward for their good actions, they return
again to earth since they still have earthly desires. The third course,
which leads to hell, is followed by those who led an impure life,
performing actions forbidden by the scriptures. They are born in sub-human
species. After expiating their evil actions, they are again reborn on
earth in human bodies. The fourth course is for those who are extremely
vile in their thoughts and actions. They are reborn again and again as
insignificant creatures such as mosquitoes and fleas. Eventually, after
the expiation of their evil actions, they too return to human bodies on
earth. When a soul assumes a human body, it takes up the thread of
spiritual evolution of its previous human birth and continues to evolve
toward Self-knowledge. According to Hinduism, all souls will ultimately
attain Self-knowledge. The four courses do not apply to those souls who
attain Self-knowledge before or at the time of death. For these souls
there is no going to any realm. Upon their death, their souls become
absorbed in Brahman, and the elements of their body-mind complex return to
their original source.

From the point of view of Hinduism, dying may be compared to
falling asleep and after-death experiences to dreams. The thoughts and
actions of the waking state determine the nature of our dreams. Similarly,
after death the soul experiences the results of the thoughts it
entertained and the actions it performed during its life on earth.
After-death experiences are real to the soul, just as a dream is real to
the dreamer, and may continue for ages. Then, when the soul wakes up after
this sleep, it finds itself reborn as a human being. According to the
Hindu scriptures, some souls after death also may be born as human beings
without going through the experiences of heaven or hell. There is no real
break in the spiritual evolution of the soul toward Self-knowledge. Even
the soul's lapse into sub-human birth from human life is a mere detour. A
dying man's next life is determined by his last thought in the present
life. The Bhagavad Gita says: "For whatever objects a man thinks of at the
final moment, when he leaves the body - that alone does he attain, O son
of Kunti, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof." And the last
thought of the dying person inevitably reflects his inmost desire. These
different courses after death have been described to warn people against
neglecting the path of Self-knowledge, which alone can confer immortality
and eternal peace and happiness.